Replacing Factory Jack with something better

A guy at work when I was in the Yukon had a jackall slip on him when he was jacking up a suburban in the middle of nowhere and the handle knocked out a couple of teeth.

 

Pro eagle makes a great jack as well. I'd say safe jack for bottle jack or pro eagle for floor jack.

https://proeagle-products.com/collections/all/off-road-jack

 

Tagging along for the recommendations, because all stock jacks suck...

Edit: how well do those floor jacks work in an off-road situation? The wheels are always tiny castors that have no chance of rolling across dirt, grass, or gravel. Do you end up just man-handling it to get it into place? If that's the case, wouldn't a bottle be much easier, and pack a lot tighter...?

 

To clarify what I said earlier about the Hi-Lift... it's useless for a stock truck because there are no points on the (stock) truck which you can use as a jacking point. If you have sliders and/or aftermarket bumpers, Hi-Lift can then be used.

Personally, I love mine. I've used it tons, for everything from suspension swaps on the side of the road, to tire changes in Death Valley, to whatever else required lifting the truck. You need to be damn careful with these things, but it's not rocket science. Wide base plate for semi-soft ground, keep your door open so that if the Hi-Lift "snaps," the handle will go into the interior of the truck and not smash your door, and keep all body parts (especially your head) out of the range of motion of the jack. Obviously ensure the jack is vertical and not at an angle.

A large, hydraulic floor jack would be a better choice for home repairs. A tall bottle jack (and some 2x4s) would be useful to have in the truck, but I'm not entirely sure how tall those things get, and whether there are any options tall enough to actually lift a lifted truck enough to change the tire. I've got quite a bit of droop in the rear, so the truck needs to go pretty damn high to actually lift the rear wheel off the ground:

 

OEM jack is a bottle jack

Edit: at least in mine but I have a second gen

 

Ya, but those rotating bottle jacks stink compared to a standard pump type bottle jack.

 

that looks just like my gsd i had. do you have extended shocks in rear? i went standard but regret it. once i get them back from service i think i will sell them and go extended or even shock mount relocation. how much more droop do extendeds have?

 

Yeah, hydraulic is best. The OEM ones are more like a screw jack. Pretty crummy.

 

No, mine are the regular ones: http://iconvehicledynamics.com/shop...es-remote-reservoir-rear-shock-0-15-lift.html . Although I think at some point I saw them advertised as "mid travel" ??? IIRC there's about 10" of travel with these.

I do have aftermarket leaf springs, though.

If you're going to relocate shock mounts, do a chevy 63 leaf spring swap.

 

If you use the hi-lift on the slider or jack from the frame with a bottle jack then yes you need to jack pretty high if you rear has a lot of droop. But you don't want to use the factory jack on the frame at the rear...

If you are using the factory jack or a bottle jack you just jack from the axle and then it doesn't matter how much droop you have at all. You'll start lifting the wheel almost immediately. You can change a rear tire with way less scary tilt to the vehicle if you just use a bottle jack under the axle instead of a hi-lift from a slider.

You can in theory play the same trick in the front by jacking the LCA but the LCA doesn't have a particularly good point to jack from. That said unless you went LT even after a lift the actual total droop at the front is rarely more than an inch or two more than stock - coilover lifts just change where the suspension sits at its nominal position but don't actually increase droop unless you change the shocks and UCA to allow more droop. So usually the factory jack is just fine for changing a front tire even if lifting from the frame.

Also for the Safe-Jack accessories be aware they don't fit the factory screw jack - its ram is too wide. You can pickup a 3rd gen 4runner jack though and remove the small plate at the top of it and that will be compatible with Safe-Jack. Obviously you can just use a hydraulic bottle jack but I personally prefer screw jacks for emergency use (most hydraulic jacks are crap and may have no seal when you need them and they require a jack stand for safety, screw jacks never fail and are their own jack stand).

 

That's a good tip. Thanks!

 

Nice truck! Apologies for the minor thread hijack (pun intended) but how do you like your cap windoors? I am considering a LEER with windoors but have read some reviews concerning problem leaks. How have your windoors performed? Thanks.

 

The bottle jack will work just fine if all you need it for is changing a flat on the road. If you want something for home use go to harbor freight and get yourself the 3ton jack and a chunk of 4x4

That's dangerous and not a good idea to use unless you really need it on a trail.

 

The cap sucked. I sold it.

Windoors leaked. Front window leaked. Locks leaked. Sides of the canopy leaked. Windoors were horribly made with huge, varying gaps everywhere. Tons of sharp metal burrs everywhere. Fibreglass mould could have been done better for less unnecessary overhang, too.

And I paid $4400CAD for it. Never again.

 

Wow, sorry to hear that! Thanks for your honest review.

Now back to the discussion on jacks...

 

not if its for recovery lol. you can use the tire lift mate thing.

even with tire changes can still be done just need axle stands as well.

 

Old trick I have used even with a hilift. If you have lots of droop, strap the axle to the frame. Webbing, straps, etc will work. The lift truck. Tire will come up with less vehicle lift, safer in my book.

 

Goddamn! Cha'freakin ching.

 

Yeah, they are really pricey for what they are. I have a set and they are really well built and finished but holy hell it is just steel and some welds...

 

For use with the Safejack extensions or by itself for changing a flat, what's the difference between screw type bottle jacks like what came in the new Tacoma vs a hydraulic bottle jack?